Easter egg hunts aren’t hoppy-go-lucky for every family. Parents who have children with severe food allergies worry about what’s inside those colorful plastic shells.
Nutphree’s Bakery in Mount Prospect wanted to spare them the stressful inspection. So on March 12, the bakery announced a March 28 nut-free egg hunt to customers via email and Facebook.
Within hours, more than 6,000 people responded. By the end of the day, registrations were triple what was expected, and the bakery had to declare it sold out at 200 people.
More than 100 families are on the event waiting list, but the bakery encourages others to add their names so it can plan accordingly for next year.
Saturday’s hunt will include eggs filled with non-food items and refreshments that are free of common food allergens. Some eggs will hold tickets to redeem for the bakery’s popular nut-free cupcakes.
Nutphree’s Bakery is devoted to peanut-free and treenut-free pastries and cakes. Owners Brian and Sonia Walker opened the bakery in 2012 after years of baking nut-free cakes for their oldest child Dylan, now 8 years old.
“(An egg hunt) was something we could never go to as a family,” Brian Walker said, “so it was something we wanted to do.”
Nutphree’s (259 E. Rand Road, 847-754-4320) is considering other similar social events for summer.
